Week 12: It's Real

This week is transfers......... it's okay cause I'm not moving! and Neither is Sister Kay! we know that we are both here for a reason! I may be in this area for a while.. we will see!

This week was Miraculous! we fasted for a girl who was getting surgery and she couldn't walk because of a tumor and she has had multiple surgeries before, but they were all not effective,  so we fasted and prayed and she is now learning to walk again!! Soo amazing! Her and her sister are becoming more active in the church! :)

Also a recent convert, who was baptized in May, was able to partake of the sacrament for the very first time as a member on Sunday! This was one of the most spiritual filled moments in my life! I was able to play a sacrament Hymn afterwards, and she loves music. I know that I am here for a reason! 

I was able to play Joseph Smith's First Prayer in the fireside for New and Returning Members!! I don't think a person in the whole chapel wasn't crying! I made the President and his wife cry, and our recent convert almost cried as well! I love music and all that it does to bring the spirit into one's life! :)

I know God is real and he can be a part of our life if we let him! I know that Jesus Christ died and sacrificed for our sins, each and every single one of us! The Sacrament, with the correct authority is life changing and changes our lives and souls! 

Nothing could be more true than this Gospel!

I love you all, and have an amazing week, and look for the tender mercies given to you in every moment! 

Make every moment count!

Always love,

<3 Sister Callista Chaffin

Week 11: He Loveth The World

This week was pretty good!

On Tuesday we taught Sofia and William in the same lesson, that was a mistake. At least they both testified that the spirit was there and that they knew that the things that we were saying were true! After the lesson, there Mom came home and we were able to talk to Rosa! :) Rosa is my favorite and I am so excited to be able to get to know her as we have these lessons later! :)

The big thing that really happened was that we were invited to the huge Halloween party that supposedly had at least 600 people at this family's house who goes to our church! There was Synchronized Swimmers from Hollywood there. we as missionaries didn't actually get to see the performance of the "Water Lilies" (the synchronized swimmers) but I heard it was crazy cool! plus flame throwers and Irish dancers Persian and Mexican foood, that was delicious and alllll free! It really was something else!!  We were there to help to hand out tickets, to be the first people the people see and interact with when they first come to the party! we also had a family history tent us and the Elders got to pass out some Book of Mormons and Family History cards! That was this last Saturday. We were there for 7 hours and standing, about the whole time! didn't know how we did it, but it is what was need to be done! 

We read The Book of Mormon with Elizabeth Saturday night. It went really well, we think that as we start to help her understand the reason for scriptures,she will want to come to church and make the time for it! 

This Sunday was great! We had the Primary program and in it was THE CUTEST little kids! AGH I almost cried! The Primary program is what I needed this week to end my week off right :) The Halloween Party was so much and it drained Sister Kay and I. 

Heavenly Father is aware of your needs always! And he knows how to help you! I plead to all to pray with the desires of your heart to God to allow Him to enter into your life and bless you! :)

A Child prayer:

"Heavenly Father are you really there? 

And do you hear and answer every Child's prayer? 

Some say that Heaven is far away, but I feel it closer every time I pray.

Pray, he is there, speak, he is listening

you are His child,

His love now surrounds you"

2 Nephi 26:24,25

24 "He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.

25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price.

Always love,

Sister Callista Chaffin

          Huge Halloween party at a mansion with basically a Greek cathedral in the back

Insect guy. What?

Mexican food at the party

They changed costumes! Soo creepy

Sunsets you can barely see cause there's so many trees

Weird streak in the sky

Week 10: The Jedi & the Padawaun

This week was some real good stuff! 


 "Sister Kay you are a Jedi and Sister Chaffin is your Padawan!! ...The force is strong with you two!" said Brother Bertoldo (Recently baptized person in the church, we are teaching his children!)  
Sure love that man! His heart is converted to the Lord and nothing is stopping him!

This week was hills and valleys! We had some amazing lesson and a a little bit of a hard time really finding, but that's always a difficulty! 

Sofia: We taught her on Thursday. She is such a missionary and she isn't even baptized! We taught her follow the Prophet, importance of Jesus Christ, and keeping the Sabbath day holy! She already wants to tell her friends no to hanging out on Sundays! I love her!

William (her little brother): We taught him on Wednesday night while Sister Kay was in another area and another missionary, Sister Royle was with me! Once again he taught us the the lesson of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  It was actually my first lesson I led! He just wants to jump into the font and get baptized. But difficulties with the mom.

This is the Bertoldo family they are just amazing! I love them with all my heart! 💜There comes a time in ones mission when you know why you are there at that time for a reason. And I know that I am here for this family at this time! Time to help this family be together forever! :)

Savannah: She is actually really good friends with Sofia now! God really does work in mysterious ways! Savannah is awesome!  We are helping her come closer and closer to baptism as well, she is so sweet and loving!

Brother Naim: Wasn't able to meet with him this week but he is reading lots of the Book of Mormon and praying a lot! he is the sweetest little man and he loves people!!

Elizabeth: We taught her on Wednesday night as well! We taught the lesson: "The Gospel of Jesus Christ! I love teaching that lesson because it is the core to all the lessons! And this is where it gets really deep! We showed a video by Jeffery R. Holland to her called "The Savior Understands Me" https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-03-0021-the-savior-understands-me?lang=eng (I for sure recommend watching it!!) it was perfect for her and the spirit was there. I didn't even have to think to speak. The words just fell out of my mouth. After a rough day trying my best, with all my effort to lead out my area for the first time, without Sister Kay (my trainer), I led the lesson, not even knowing what was happening I gained the revelation necessary to guide and find and teach the people in my area. This literally blew my mind. I never believed I could ever do it but the Lord PROVIDES. 

After Sister Kay came back from exchanges, I told her how many miracles there were and she said that I was no longer a Padawan! 😊What even?! I love the Holy Ghost and all that it does in our lives! 

I got a question this week, "without the gospel where would you be"? I really had no clue how to answer that! I would not be where  I am today, or as happy as I am today if it weren't for the Gospel and all that it gives me and all that I see it helping and guiding others to a happier fuller life with a purpose!! :)

Acts 5:41,42 
"41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted   worthy to suffer shame for his name.
42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ."

Rejoice that you are counted worthy!! :)

Love you all, have a great week!

Always Love <3

Sister Callista Chaffin

📭

Sunny yet FREEZING day

Savannah! <3

Savannah and Mia

Brother Bertoldos son, Alex, he is 6 and wouldn't let us leave the church building cause he wanted to come with us! What a cutie

Bulgarian drink

This HUGE Halloween party we are helping out with at a family history tent

Week 9: We Thank Thee Oh God For a Prophet :)

Hello all! I am so glad we were able to hear from our wonderful Prophet, Russell M. Nelson! Love that man!

Just to review my week...

Monday: Not much happened after we went on a hike, washed the dirt off, cleaned the apartment, got groceries, and emailed on preparation day! We found 2 people, but we've tried going back to them this week and they aren't home..

Tuesday: was crazy awesome! In the morning. We were at the church building updating and texting people and figuring out who we were going to visit among less active members, because our mission president wants us to work with the members to help them with the less actives and re-teach the lessons, focusing on temples! So I'm really excited for that! That afternoon we got a text from Alex (our recent convert) and he said that Sofia missed the bus and that she won't be home for our lesson that afternoon! But then he texted us a little later saying that his wife will let their son take the lessons! So that was a miracle in itself!! Then when we were presenting the lesson, he basically taught all of us who were there,  the first missionary lesson! He prayed for the closing prayer and said in it that he knew the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet! He's only 11!! He retains information sooo well! 

Wednesday: It was a bit crazy this day because we gave at least 3 lessons! 

First, a less active and her friend who is a member in our ward wanted to have a lesson! Her name is Brittany, she is so sweet and she is finding out that God really does love her and that she is a Daughter of God. She is around my age! Then we drove as fast as we could to the church to have another lesson with William! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and how much this life matters! He basically taught us,(once again)... and he understands and knows why the fall was necessary....... what? How does an 11 year old retain this knowledge? He then said a closing prayer and he asked that others will pray for him to be able to get baptized soon, because his mom isn't going to let him till he's 12 in March! :( but he wants to get baptized now! :( Anyways, we then had to run to Elizabeth's lesson and we had a member with us and she was able to help Elizabeth understand the reason for prayers! and why we say prayers. so now Elizabeth has a desire to pray! :)

Thursday: We had a lesson with brother Naim! We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he really wants to stop smoking! He was thinking really hard about it! He finally understand how important Jesus Christ and His Atonement is and starting to understand what it means to him! :) We invited him to be baptized again... he said he wants to read the whole Book of Mormon first and write down all his questions he has about it! then he will decide! Good thing, because he's already reading in the book of  2 Nephi! :) WE love him! he an adorable 40 year old man! :)

Friday: we basically found people this day and invited everybody to watch General Conference to hear the Prophet speak! At the end of the day we were able to knock on a part-member family, who is a person who requested to be a DO NOT CONTACT... and we brought her cookies from a dinner we were just at, and she said come on in, fed us milkshakes and asked if we wanted to come back to have some homemade apple sauce!! WOW! wouldn't ya know, miracles! :)) (BTW that Apple sauce is DELISH!!! reminds me of home!! :)) <3)

Saturday & Sunday was Conference!!! We felt like normal people and got to relax for a moment! :)  Favorite talk: "Everyday He Heals You and Reaches Out to You!!"; also "It is love of God that Cures" ;  "Love as he loved and be as he was" "Christ's cause" "Come and see-->culture of healing & add your strengths with ours!" "Draw nearer to God and He will draw nearer to you" "Believe, Love and Do "-Elder Uchtdorf <3

Also, doing as the Prophet asks of us is obeying the word of the Lord! :)

What was your take away from conference??!!

Love you all bunches! talk to ya'll next week!

Always Love,

<3 Sister Callista Chaffin 

❤❤❤❤

When you are actually proselytizing...

It is possible to be grateful for something every day.. going on month 2!

One of the biggest spiders I've ever seen.. we found bigger later this week!

Quotes from Conference! :)

This past weekend was General Conference!!! I am so excited for 2 hour church and home study!!! 

This is going to strengthen homes and families across the globe! I know the the family is the most important people we build relationships with! Families are God created! :) 

Just a few things I learned from the 8 hours of General Conference...

-"Don't ask WHY; it is to give you experience" -M. Joseph Brough

-Through the gospel of Jesus Christ we are able to receive Christ into our Countenance as we are continually, consciously giving our trust, relying and following in him: from Elder Bednar

-"Opposition is part of Gods plan" "Mortal life is sacred" "What we know will tump what we don't know" -President Oaks

-"Build our lives on God's pattern"-Dean M. Davies

-Become unified with Christ and every to become powerful!: from Elder Soares 

-Take; Partake, Accept, align yourselves. "Take upon you the name of Christ!"-Paul B. Pieper

-"Everyday he heals you and reaches out to you!!" "It is love of God that cures" "Love as he loved and be as he was" "Christ's cause" "Come and see-->culture of healing & add your strengths with ours!" "Draw nearer to God and He will draw nearer to you" "Believe, Love and Do "-Elder Uchtdorf

-"Divine or Destruction?" "We can choose to live the higher path" "Never suppress a generous thought" "It isn't a waste of time to talk to people, it is my purpose"-Mitchell Lynn Craig

-"You can never love the Lord if you cant serve him by serving others" "How can i help you today?" -Cristina B. Franco

-"Know and number his sheep"-Bonnie B, Cordon

-"Create peace by the prince of peace" "Just start swimming" "Sacrifice your pride for the happiness of others"-Jeffery R. Holland

-"This is M o r t a l i t y; we w i l l be wounded; there w i l l be bitterness" "Trials make our greatest teacher" "pray with all your heart" "you'll be exhausted, but don't give up!" -Neil A. Anderson

-"The nickname disregards Jesus Christ" -President Nelson

-"Talk to everyone as if they are going through something traumatic" "AMEN" "We are our witness to our witnessing" " Faith, Hope and Charity! Meek and lowly of heart" "The Saviors putting his name in your heart" "You are to feel and share his love with others!" "I'm TRYING to be like Jesus"-President Eyring

-The sacrifices are WORTH IT"-Brian K. Ashton

-"Can you see everyone around you as a sacred being?" "In the eyes of Christ we are of infinite cost" "Do you trust me?" He is greater than our fear"-Robert C. Gay

-"There are no scars" "Mortal infirmities lead us to rely on him more" "I am REDEEMED!" -Matthew L. Carpenter

-"Satan deceives and distracts" "Choose to reconcile yourself with God"-Dale Renlund

-"Gather His lost sheep" "We can all be the Shepard as the great Shepard" "Determined Dog Wont Leave Lost Sheep"-Gary E. Stevenson aka Dad! :)

-"GO TO THE TEMPLE!!!" :) -President Nelson

Week 8: We taught as we walked and walked and walked

Monday: To end off our Preparation day we went to the Walter's house. He is the Stake president and she is the Relief Society president of our ward! The grandma has this cute little dog named Osito!! It means little bear in Spanish!! My favorite dog in all Virginia! That's saying something cause its rare to see anyone without a dog here! 

Tuesday: We had a lesson with Naim!! I love Naim! He read all the way through 1 Nephi in the Book of Mormon in about a week in Farsi/Persian. Teaching him is really an experience because he knows English but not THAT well so trying to explain to him who Jesus Christ is and what he did for us, when he thinks Jesus Christ is only a Prophet, is difficult. But he is now able to pray correctly and he understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ really well! It was really spiritual and I knew he felt that Jesus Christ did die for him. And I know he will be baptized!

We also taught Sofia! She is absolutely awesome! We taught her the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and the importance of commandments! That went sooo well! She had so many questions when she had read the Pamphlet; "For Strength of Youth" so,we were able to answer them and clear up the views of the church and give her more understanding of the why and what of commandments! :) She says she wants to be baptized and knows this is a good thing, but she doesn't want to leave her mom behind and push her mom even further away! Hopefully this month her mom will let her get baptized! :)

Wednesday: it was sunny and hot and then after dinner it decided to pour rain! And, our afternoon and evening consisted of walking around knocking on doors in this random neighborhood we found! So that was lots of fun! (Builds character right! ;) After our evening in the pouring rain, we had a lesson with Elizabeth that night and we were able to read in 1 Nephi 8 and Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life!! She is a very visual person so we thought she would love the tree of life since we are reading the book together! She is very busy and so we just read the book of Mormon with her! :) She is awesome! I love her! :)

Thursday: We were able to meet with Alex for new member discussions ( Sofia's Dad) with his ministering brother and a sister from our ward! We talked about Christ and how much He is the corner stone of our religion! We were basically teaching William, his son! William commented on everything and said the closing prayer! Afterwards he said he can't wait to be a missionary like us! :0 he's so cute! only 11 years old! It's awesome because his dad, Alex is teaching him everything about the Bible and the Book of Mormon and the Gospel! He could be baptized tomorrow if his mom would let him.. Sofia as well!

Friday: We went to Gainsville for Zone Conference and it was really good, I about cried at the end when we sang "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet". Zone conference was all about how we should use members to help less active and people we are teaching! It was also on how we are only able to be a missionary by and only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Each missionary in the room was foreordained to be a missionary and if it wasn't for the Atonement of Jesus Christ we wouldn't be For-ordained! We have been running out of miles because this family-- Alex, Sofia and William, all live 20 miles away and we have to go there all the time!

Saturday: Walked and walked and walked and walked all day! met some cool people but no one new to actually teach!! Found Mathias Noah and Kevin! They are cools cats! hopefully we can teach em all soon! :)

Sunday: It was still crazy because we were almost out of our allotted miles on our car, but had to drive to Clifton (20 miles away) and go to church! Naim was able to come to church and it was a wreck of church meetings.... he's an older single guy and we talked about families. He barely speaks English and we talked and talked about the gathering of Israel and the Abrahamic Covanent. Train WRECK!

Always remember to emulate the Savior in all things and always outwardly express your love for him and others! <3

 Love you all Bunches! 

Always love,

Sister Callista Chaffin <3

The windshield and the cool sky!!

OSITO <3

RAIN RAIN RAIN

A members house had sooo many Greek statues all over their house and literally building a Greek column in his back yard behind his huge 12ft deep pool with at least 10 statues of marble spitting out water into the pool.. They have the coolest Halloween parties and missionaries come and help and people from all over the US fly in to see and come to this party.. synchronized swimmers and singers and all!!

Tropical smoothie is our favorite place!! best food and smoothies! <3

Just imagining little armies going through here with guns and stuff! way back during the war on bull run!

My cute little hiking buddy fell! :( ;)

Creek going into river!

HIKE

This is where some people were in the civil war! kinda of cool history next to this river! I felt like I was back in civil war times! haha
I didn't get a picture of the info of the history but should definitely look it up and read the history!

Muddy shoes from our hike today!! It was wayy too muddy, we had to turn around and only had a tiny hike! I had to hold my shoes till we got to the apartment!